Matier & Ross: Peskin hammers Newsom over post-spill Hawaii trip

DUFTY13_0201.JPG
Tom Ammiano and Aaron Peskin chat as San Francisco board of Supervisors and gay activist lash out during a number of speeches at a press conference on City Hall steps Thursday. The up roar is all about Talk show host Pete Wilson's on air comments about the Dufty-Goldfader baby earlier in the week. Many of Dufty and Goldfader friends and family are asking for Wilson's resignation. OCTOBER 12, 2006SAN FRANCISCO. By Lance Iversen/San Francisco Chronicle MANDATORY CREDIT PHOTOG AND SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE/NO SALES MAGS OUT less

DUFTY13_0201.JPG
Tom Ammiano and Aaron Peskin chat as San Francisco board of Supervisors and gay activist lash out during a number of speeches at a press conference on City Hall steps Thursday. The up roar is ... more

Photo: By Lance Iversen

Photo: By Lance Iversen

Image
1of/3

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 3

DUFTY13_0201.JPG
Tom Ammiano and Aaron Peskin chat as San Francisco board of Supervisors and gay activist lash out during a number of speeches at a press conference on City Hall steps Thursday. The up roar is all about Talk show host Pete Wilson's on air comments about the Dufty-Goldfader baby earlier in the week. Many of Dufty and Goldfader friends and family are asking for Wilson's resignation. OCTOBER 12, 2006SAN FRANCISCO. By Lance Iversen/San Francisco Chronicle MANDATORY CREDIT PHOTOG AND SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE/NO SALES MAGS OUT less

DUFTY13_0201.JPG
Tom Ammiano and Aaron Peskin chat as San Francisco board of Supervisors and gay activist lash out during a number of speeches at a press conference on City Hall steps Thursday. The up roar is ... more

Photo: By Lance Iversen

Matier & Ross: Peskin hammers Newsom over post-spill Hawaii trip

1 / 3

Back to Gallery

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom'sdecision to take a Hawaiian getaway with gal pal Jennifer Siebelin the midst of the big fuel spill on the bay is providing new fodder for Newsom's critics.

Peskin, of course, is fighting with the mayor over allegations that the board president has been bullying Newsom's department heads. He says raising questions about the three-day vacation Newsom took starting Thursday is not an attempt to deflect the questions being aimed his way.

"The facts are the facts," Peskin said.

And the fact is that, on Thursday afternoon, after learning that the Coast Guard had vastly underestimated the size of the previous day's spill, Newsom still felt things were well enough in hand for him to take his planned post-election vacation.

"And from the city's perspective, they were," Newsom said. Besides, he added, he hadn't had a weekend off in a year.

Within hours of the mayor's departure, however, it became increasingly clear to city officials that things were not going well and that the Coast Guard was dropping the ball on the cleanup.

In his absence, Newsom appointed Supervisor Bevan Dufty to be acting mayor.

Newsom did not talk over the situation with Dufty before getting on the plane - nor did he speak with Dufty while he was gone.

Instead, all communications were routed through Newsom's chief of staff, Phil Ginsburg, with whom Newsom was in regular contact.

As the state and federal roadblocks became more frustrating, Dufty found himself playing mayoral heavy, even calling people he knew on the governor's staff to try to get things moving.

"It was fine by me," Dufty said. "I felt I had the confidence of the mayor."

Other questions are being raised about the city's response to the problem.

For more than 12 hours after the 8:30 a.m. spill, city officials accepted the Coast Guard's faulty estimate that only 140 gallons of fuel oil were in the water - even though the smell was so strong along the waterfront that Port Director Monique Moyerordered the port's headquarters near the Ferry Building evacuated in the middle of the day.

In fact, the mayor's office thought Moyer was overreacting.

Moyer also walked along the waterfront herself and reported back to the mayor's office that she saw patches of oil in the bay.

Nonetheless, the city didn't send any fire or emergency personnel down to the port or onto the bay to check the extent of the problem.

"Did we send people into the bay with cups to measure the spill? No," Newsom said Tuesday. "We relied on the Coast Guard and other agencies for the facts."

It was a mistake that pretty much set the tone for the next four days.

"I don't see how my staying would have changed things," Newsom said. "I was gone all of two days, and it turned out to be one of the worst weekends of my life."

On with the show: State Senate President Pro Tem Don Peratacalled out the camera crews in the wake of the big fuel oil spill to lambaste Gov. ArnoldSchwarzenegger for vetoing legislation to strengthen regional water quality control boards and leaving key anti-pollution agencies understaffed.

"I'd just come to the end of the line," Perata said Tuesday.

"First he vetoes $600 million in water repairs. Then he vetoes an overhaul of the water boards. Then he doesn't fill vacancies in the department that's supposed to help with spills like this.

"We're running around talking about global warming, yet things right in front of us are not getting done," the Oakland Democrat said.

The governor's office didn't get so much as a heads-up of Perata's coming blast - but the resulting headlines linking the Jolly Green Governor to the oil mess clearly got the attention of Schwarzenegger & Co. And they were none too happy, especially given that Arnold had agreed to speak in Oakland on Tuesday - at Perata's invitation - to the California State Association of Counties.

The governor asked to meet privately with Perata in a back room before the talk.

Ever the salesman, Schwarzenegger made no mention of Perata's blast - he just wanted to make sure they got their pitch together about trying to meet Friday's deadline for placing a statewide water bond on the February ballot.

Love life: Quite a party at the Pyramid Alehouse in Walnut Creek the other day for Channel 2's departing early morning anchor, Mark Curtis- but the big buzz was all about gay San Francisco SupervisorBevan Dufty'sunusual phone chat with a station reporter.

Seems the very tall KTVU cameraman Martin Holetonhad been down to the Castro a couple of weeks earlier to shoot some tape of Dufty talking about the city's cancellation of the big Halloween party. Holton happened to mention that he'd be dressing up himself the Saturday before the holiday and cruising the Castro in costume.

So when KTVU reporter Amber Leelater phoned Dufty for some follow-up on the story, the supervisor couldn't resist asking if she knew whether the cameraman was gay.

"Bevan, I'm married to him," Lee replied.

Lest anyone think Dufty was romantically interested, he insists nothing could be further from the truth.

"It was not a love connection," he says. "In fact, I'll send you a photo of my very good-looking boyfriend who is now living with me."

Cast your vote on who's to blame for the S.F. Bay oil mess. Play the hugging John Edwardsand Barack Obamacaption contest. Check out the bricks and kisses in feedback. And read the Extra, Extra, Extra musings and insights of friends including Rich "Big Vinny" Lieberman and The Chronicle's Carla Marinucciand Don "Bad Reporter" Asmussen.